The Games We Play Online and Offline: Making Wang-tta in Korea

This article presents an ethnographic analysis of case studies derived from fieldwork that was designed to consider the different ways Korean game players establish community online and offline. I consider ways Korean youth participate in activities at Korean computer game rooms, which can be thought of as “third places.” A synthesis of the Korean concept Wang-tta provides extra insight into the motivations to excel at digital games and one of the strong drivers of such community membership. Korea’s gaming society has many unique elements within the interplay of culture, social structure, and infrastructure.